Governor Mike Pence, Meet Donald Trump

It becomes more obvious each day Mike Pence and Donald Trump are running two completely separate campaigns. They never appear together, and they are constantly contradicting one another. It almost feels like they have never even met. Are they ever actually in the same room at the same time?

It is only three weeks until the election (thank GAWD, could we please get this over with already!), which makes it way past time the two of them got their stories straight. In the meantime, Pence looks like an idiot…not for disagreeing necessarily, but just for being part of this whole ridiculous charade. And for being Mike Pence, because, let’s face it, that’s pretty bad in itself.

Trump is really pounding the idea of rigged elections, hinting he may not accept defeat. It’s so bad, a lot of powerful people are taking notice and beginning to take action. He’s really gone off his rocker on this one. However, Pence knows that elections are very decentralized and many of those states are controlled by republicans. In an interview with John Dickerson, Pence stated, “We’ll respect the outcome of this election.” He has tried to soften it, make it appear to be a complaint about media, but it’s not working. Just a few hours after that interview, Trump was tweeting about rigged elections again. Pence cannot get even a few hours’ reprieve.

Also, Pence stated in the Vice Presidential debate that we should send troops into Syria. Trump turned around at the second presidential debate and flat-out said, “He and I haven’t spoken, and I disagree.” This was followed by a word salad I’m sure was supposed to be a policy position, but I don’t speak CheetoJizz, so I’m not clear what it is.

When it comes to Russia and the hacking of government computers, Pence has accepted the intelligence that states Russia is behind it. But Trump has completely dismissed the idea, saying it’s just another smear tactic (tin foil global conspiracy Alex Jones and a goldfish) against him specifically.

Pence also is at odds with Trump over free trade. As a representative and governor, he voted for virtually every free trade agreement: CAFTA, TPP, Trans-Atlantic Trade, etc. Trump is adamantly opposed to these, although he hasn’t been very clear on a solution, other than, “We’ll make a great deal, the best deal, we’ll win so much!” Are you tired of winning yet?

Pence has always opposed any type of Muslim ban. He denounced it as unconstitutional. Once he started running as Trump’s VP, it took quite a bit of time, but finally at the beginning of October, Pence did speak on behalf of the campaign and say, once and for all, that a ban is no longer their position. Trump is still calling for “extreme vetting”, which means something, probably about what most republicans wish they would have done during the primaries.

At the end of the day, I hope this is merely an educational exercise. 538 has Trump/Pence somewhere around 10% chance of winning as of today. But this does show how utterly out of sync and sloppy this whole campaign is being run. Three weeks…we can do this!